RephraseThis

RephraseThis helps you polish selected text in Obsidian without leaving the editor. Select a passage, choose Rephrase selection or the inline rephrase button, then accept a suggestion to replace the selected text in place.

Features

• Rephrase selected text directly in the editor.
• Review suggestions before anything is written back to your note.
• Cycle through alternate suggestions with the keyboard.
• Use Ollama, OpenAI, OpenRouter, or another OpenAI-compatible chat API.
• Store API keys with Obsidian Secret Storage.
• Tune how much nearby writing is included for style and context.

Network and privacy

RephraseThis only sends note content when you explicitly run a rephrase action. The request includes the selected text and, depending on your writing-context setting, nearby text before and after the selection.

• Destination: the API base URL configured in Settings > RephraseThis.
• Purpose: generate the requested rephrase suggestions.
• Authentication: optional user-provided API key, stored with Obsidian Secret Storage.
• Telemetry: none.
• Ads: none.
• Background rephrasing: none.
• Files outside the vault: none.

Provider-specific network requests:

• Ollama: requests are sent to the configured Ollama-compatible endpoint. The default is http://localhost:11434/v1.
• Ollama model discovery: when the Ollama preset is selected, the plugin can request local model lists and recent Ollama cloud model metadata so the model dropdown is easier to use.
• OpenAI: requests are sent to https://api.openai.com/v1 unless you change the API base URL.
• OpenRouter: requests are sent to https://openrouter.ai/api/v1; the plugin can also request OpenRouter's public model catalog.
• Custom providers: requests are sent to the custom API base URL you enter.

Your configured provider may have its own data retention, privacy, account, and billing rules. Review the provider's policies before sending sensitive notes to it.

API setup

The default provider is Ollama with the model nemotron-3-super:cloud.

For the default Ollama setup:

• Install Ollama.
• Sign in if Ollama Cloud asks for it: ollama signin.
• Pull the default model if you do not already have it: ollama pull nemotron-3-super:cloud.
• Confirm Ollama can see the model through the OpenAI-compatible API: curl http://localhost:11434/v1/models.
• In Obsidian, open Settings > RephraseThis and select Test connection.

To keep inference on your own machine, choose a local Ollama model in Settings > RephraseThis instead of the default cloud model.

For OpenAI, OpenRouter, or another compatible provider, choose the provider or custom base URL, enter an API key if required, and choose a model. API keys are stored with Obsidian Secret Storage; RephraseThis saves only an internal secret name in plugin data.

Usage

• Select text in a note.
• Select the small rephrase button above the selection, or run Rephrase selection from the command palette.
• Press Tab to cycle through suggestions once they appear.
• Press Enter to replace the selected text with the current suggestion.
• Press Esc to cancel without changing the note.

You can assign your own shortcut from Settings > RephraseThis:

• Select Open hotkeys in the Rephrase behavior section.
• Search for Rephrase selection if it is not filled automatically.
• Press + next to the command, choose your shortcut, then save it.

Manual installation

• Download main.js, styles.css, and manifest.json from a GitHub release.
• Copy them into VaultFolder/.obsidian/plugins/rephrasethis/.
• Reload Obsidian.
• Enable RephraseThis under Settings > Community plugins.

Development

Requirements:

• Node.js 18 or newer.
• npm.

Commands:

npm install
npm run build
npm run lint
npm audit --audit-level=moderate

Watch while developing:

npm run dev

Install a fresh build into a local vault:

npm run install:vault -- "/path/to/your/vault"

The install command removes the existing local plugin folder, builds the plugin, copies main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css, then verifies that the copied files match the fresh build.

Release checklist

• Run npm ci.
• Run npm run lint.
• Run npm run build.
• Confirm manifest.json and versions.json have the intended version.
• Publish a GitHub release whose tag exactly matches manifest.json's version.
• Attach main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css as release assets.

License

RephraseThis is released under the 0BSD license. See LICENSE.